The use of medical treatment devices in electrophysiological procedures is known. In such cases one or more catheters are introduced for the purpose of electrophysiological mapping or for performing an ablation into anatomical areas of the body of a patient, especially in the heart. An ablation, i.e. a removal of intracardiac tissue, is performed with the aid of an ablation catheter in order to provide permanent therapies for arrhythmias.
However ablation involves a not-insignificant risk for the patient during use close to risky areas, of causing irreparable undesired injuries by the ablation. For treating atrial fibrillation the ablation on the posterior wall of the left atrium can cause a perforation of feed pipes, if the ablation is carried out in the vicinity of the feed pipes against the epicard. Similarly ablation in the vicinity of the pulmonary veins opening out into the left atrium can cause stenoses of the pulmonary veins. Generally ablation in the vicinity of heart valves (mitral valve, tricuspid valve) or in the vicinity of vessel valves (aorta valves, vein valves) can cause valve stenoses or other damage to the valves.
To limit the risk of injuries to the patient as much as possible it is already being proposed that ablation should not be performed exclusively in accordance with electrophysiological criteria, but should also include anatomical criteria. Thus atrial fibrillation is no longer treated by circular lesions around the pulmonary veins in the immediate vicinity of the pulmonary veins, with the risk of causing stenoses of the pulmonary veins, but instead linear lesions are made in the antrum of the left atrium further away from the mouths of the pulmonary veins. Electroanatomical mapping systems are used for this purpose in order to visualize the ablation catheter during the ablation procedure in a representation of the cardiac anatomy.